The Brookhaven leader., 1887-04-28

fairs OF their clients, neighbors advertis
| ing the faults OF the next-d cor resident
| pretending friends betraying condolences.
| One-half OF the trouble of every com
munitv comes from the fact that so many
people have not capacity to keep their
| mouths shut When | hear something
disparaging of you my first duty is not 10
| tell you. But il | tell you what somebody
has said against you, AMI then go out aud
tell everybo ly else what | told you, and
| they so out and tell others what told
| them that tod you, and we all go out,
some TO hunt up the originator of the
story and others TO hunt it down, we shall
get the whole community talking about
what you did do and what you did not do,
and there will b. as many scalp' taken as
though band OF MpdocS hal swept upon
helpless village.
We have two ears but only one tongue,
physiological sug yestipn that we ought
to hear a great deal more than we tell
Let us Join conspiracy that we Will tell
each other all the COOL and nothing of the
ill. and then th"rs will no; b. such awful
neel Of sermons on Solomou's words;
Discover not secret to another.
solomon had Il larg, domestic circle. In
his earlier days he had very confused no
his multituliuouS associates in the matrl-
mcnial state kept HIM too we'll inform ed
as to what was going on in Jerusalem.
They gathere up all the p:ivarieS of the
city and poured them into his ear. and his
family became a sOroslS, g. female debat-
ing society nf seven hund rcd, discu ing
dayaft or day all the difficulties between
husbands and wives. between employers
and Cmploves, [bctween rulers and sub
tects, until Solomon, in my text, deplOres
volubility about affairs that do not belong
TO US and extOls the virtue OF secretive-
ness.
BY the power OF secret divulgcd, fam
lilies, churches, ucighborhoods, nations fly
apart. BY the power Of a secret kept,
great charities, SDrilliticS. reformatory
movements aad Christian enterprises may
be advanced Manarc gregIrious--cattle
In herds, FISH IN schools birds in hocks,
men in social circles You may, by the
discharge OF Il gun, scatter Il flock OF
quails, or BY the plunge of the anchor
send apart the d7IiZ'nI of thI sea, but
they Will gather them selves together
again. lfyou, by soma now power, could
break the associations. III which men now
stand, they would again adhere. God
meant it SO lie has gathered all the
flowers and shrubs into associations. You
may plant one forget me-not or hearts
case alone, away OF upon the hillside, but
1t VIII soon hunt up some other forget
me-not and heart s-case. Plants love
company. You will tinl them talking to
each other IN the dew. 4. galaxy of stars
is only a mutual life insurance company.
Nou sometimes see 4 man with no out
branchings of sympathy. His nature is
~ l., s,N
glazed, which the most agile sailor could
never climb. Others have thousand
roots and Il thousand branches. Innun-
cradle tcndrils ri NIB their hearts, and
blossom all the way up, and the fowls OF
Heaven sing in the branches. In conse-
Quence of this tendency, we find men
coming together in tribes, in commun-
ties, il churches, in societies. Some
gather together Il cultivate the arts,
some to plan for the welfare of the STATE,
some to discuss religious themes, some to
kinde their mirth, some 10 advance their
crafts. So every active community is
divided into associations of artists, of
merchants of book bind ars, of carpenters,
of masons, of p!astcrers, of shipwrights,
Of plumbers Do yOI cry ont against it!
Then you cry olt against tendency
dvinely implanted. Yoar TRADES would
accomplish no more than If you should
preach to Il busy ant hill or ben-h!ve a
long sermon again : secret societies.
Here we find the oft-disCussed question
whether associations that do their work
with closed doors, and admit their mem
bers by passwords, and greet each other
with secret grip, are right or wrong. l
answer that it depends cntirely on the ma
ture OF the object for which they meet. Is
ii to pass the hours in reVelry, wassail,
blasphcmy AMI obscene talk, or to plot
trouble to the State, or 10 de5auch the in
nocent, then | say, with an emphasis that
no man can mistake, no, But Is the object
the defense of tn rights of any class
against oppression, the Improvement of
the mind, the enlargem mt of the heart,
the advancement of art, the defense of the
Government, the cXtirpatiOn of crime, or
the kinlling OF Il pure hearted sociality,
then l say, with Just as much emphasis,
yes!
There is no need tn we who plan for
the conquest Of rigAt over wrong should
publish to all thu word our intentions.
The General of al a my never sends to
the opposing troops Information of
the coming ATTACK. Shall we who
have enlisted in the cause of God
and humanity expose our plans to the
enemy? MOL we will in secret plot the
ruin CT all the enterprises of Satan and his
cohorts. When they expect us by day we
villa fall upo them by night. While they
are strengthening tn Fir left wing we will
double up their right. Be- plan of battle
formed in secret conclave we will come
suddenly upon them crying:
The sword OF the Lord and Gideon.
Secrecy of plot and exc ;ution are wrong
only when the object and ends are nefari-
Gus. Every family is a secret society
every business firm and every banking
and insurance institution. Those men
who have no capacity to keep a secret are
unfit for positions Of trust anywhere.
There are thousands of men whose vital
need i. culturing a capacity to keep a
secret Men talk too much, and women
too. There is time to keep silence as
well as time to speal.
Although rot belonging to any of the
great secret soci 1tieS about which there
has been so much violent discussion, /
have only words OF p '3ise for those as5o-
Citations which have for their object the
maintenance Of right against wrong, or
the reclamation IF IL ebr ateS, or, like the
score of mutual benefit societies called by
diff ercnt names, that provide temporary
relief fOr willows and Orphans and for
men incapacitated by sex lcss or accid Ont
from earning livelihood. Hal it not
been for the large number of secret labor
organic ltiOns in this country monopoly
would long ago have, under its ponderous
wheels, ground the laboring classes into
an intolerable seryitule.